Is “patient-centered” design becoming a cliché? Some say yes, that the term covers everything these days from warmly hospitable to bare minimalist, depending on the tastes (and budgets) of the sponsors. When a leading faith-based healthcare system commits to defining “patient-centered,” though, it can take on new meaning.

As regular HEALTHCARE DESIGN readers know by now, interior designer Jain Malkin, CID,AAHID, EDAC, directs one of the most conceptual design firms in the business. Malkin and her San Diego-based team at Jain Malkin Inc. have become known for incorporating, and even creating, strikingly original features that enliven the patient/family experience. The 130,000-square-foot Schuster Heart Hospital, a multi-service facility that opened in September 2010, is one of the latest examples of this.

Atna Insurance is sending its network’s doctors alerts via mobile devices for patient care, as more medical professionals use smartphones and tablets in their daily practices.

Aetna sends free mobile medical alerts and offers e-prescribing services to its Florida network doctors to better help coordinate health care. The insurance carrier has not yet said if it will expand the service nationwide, but it may do so if the Florida doctors embrace the new alert system.

Aetna said the services allow doctors to instantly access medical literature, as well as clinical and patient information from Aetna’s claims department, even while the doctors are with their patients. This will allow them to identify safety issues, talk with patients about missed tests or checkups and discuss health management programs.

Over the last several blogs, I have looked at design elements that define a successful pediatric facility, from the radiology unit to the emergency department, and the private patient room. Children have unique healthcare needs that require unique design choices.

Here are six design considerations that define a well-planned pediatric unit:

Thomas Jefferson enshrined in this country’s civil religion the “pursuit of happiness” as an unalienable right. But if a medical practice’s staff is successful in that pursuit, does it translate into happy patients?

In a 2009 Harvard Business Review article, Rosa Chun, a professor of business ethics and corporate social responsibility, and Gary Davies, a professor of corporate reputation at Manchester Business School in the United Kingdom, wrote a brief article disputing the conventional wisdom that happy employees yield happy customers. Their study, they say, found no correlation between employee satisfaction and service. But others are skeptical—very skeptical.

Not surprisingly, those on both sides of the issue can point to research to support their position.

“There’s a long line of research that shows that being happy—to the extent that one takes care of personal needs only—doesn’t translate to good customer or patient care,” says Billie Blair, PhD, president/CE of Change Strategies, Inc., and the author of All The Moving Parts (Puzzles Press, 2007).